While We’re Waiting serves as the early morning gathering of WFNY-esque information for your viewing pleasure. Have something you think we should see? Send it to our tips email at tips@waitingfornextyear.com.

How would we all be reacting now if just the Browns had held on Sunday? “While Browns offensive coordinator Brad Childress was being grilled – for the umpteenth time – Thursday during his weekly 15-minute media availability about quarterback Brandon Weeden’s high throws in last Sunday’s 17-16 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles, he stopped for a moment and made sense of it all. ‘You know, if we had won the game, we wouldn’t be talking about all this,’ he said. ‘The things that don’t go well are masked when you win.’ Of all things that were said by Childress and Browns defensive coordinator Dick Jauron during his media availability a few minutes earlier – even of all the things that were asked of the two men by reporters – what Childress uttered made the most sense.” [Steve King/SportsTimeOhio]

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Discussing more about why the Browns faced so many offensive struggles in Week 1: “No one said it would be easy for the Browns’ offense. There will be moments where the attack’s great youth will be difficult to miss. The rookie starting quarterback, Brandon Weeden, is trying to master the West Coast scheme — no easy task, and usually not a quick one. The rookie starting running back, Trent Richardson, is a little more than a month removed from arthroscopic knee surgery and still rounding into form. The Browns are very young at wide receiver, with their go-to target (WR Greg Little) still developing in his second NFL season and two rookies (Josh Gordon and Travis Benjamin) among the club’s top four wide receivers.” [Mike Wilkening/Pro Football Weekly]

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Some trade specifics for Hafner, although it likely won’t be relevant for the Indians much longer: “Travis Hafner obtained ten and five rights yesterday when he reached ten years of MLB service, MLBTR has confirmed. Hafner, who entered the season with nine years and nine days of service time, has 164 days of service so far in 2012 for a total of ten-plus years at the MLB level. Hafner is in the final season of a four-year, $57MM contract that includes a limited no-trade clause. The Indians now need Hafner’s permission to trade him to any team. It’s presumably a moot point for 2012, as the designated hitter has been sidelined since August 5th with lower back inflammation.” [Ben Nicholson-Smith/MLB Trade Rumors]

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Who really deserves the blame over the last few months? “What has happened to the Cleveland Indians since the end of July – a month-and-a-half stretch that has seen the club go from contenders to worst team in the American League – can not all be blamed on Manager Manny Acta. However, someone will have to be held accountable for one of the worst stretches of futility in the history of a team that has seen its fair share of futile play. The easiest fall guy is always the manager. In this case, the owner and general manager should take the blame for assembling a team with so many flaws. However, you can not get rid of an owner and General Manager Chris Antonetti is only in his second year on the job. He could get a pass, in that regard, for another season.” [Craig Gifford/Did The Tribe Win Last Night?]

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Yuck. It appears this week’s OSU game should again be a snoozer, although that wasn’t the intention initially: “When the contract for the Ohio State-California series was signed, both schools were in the midst of continuous winning seasons. The Buckeyes had won a national championship and didn’t appear to be going anywhere anytime soon, and after varying degrees of success the previous decade, Jeff Tedford was hired by Cal in 2002 and immediately turned the program into one of the best on the West Coast. In Tedford’s 10 seasons at Cal, the Golden Bears have finished with one losing record, two double-digit wins seasons, a conference championship, a 7-3 record against arch-rival Stanford and a 5-3 record in bowl games.” [Kyle Rowland/Eleven Warriors]

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Hyping up Jon Leuer! Even though he might not make the team! Yay offseason talking points! “The second-year big man ranked as a sleeper favorite of mine in the 2011 draft, a player seemingly ripe to be a quality 3rd or 4th NBA front court player. After four years at the University of Wisconsin and one year with the Milwaukee Bucks, good fortune smiled on the Cavs, and Mr. Leuer came their way via waivers. Admittedly, I watched approximately three Bucks games last year and probably 11 minutes of Jon Leuer, but here are top reasons for optimism.” [Kevin Hetrick/Cavs: The Blog]

Jacob Rosen is a long-time contributor to WaitingForNextYear. He's also a writer online at SportsAnalyticsBlog and Nylon Calculus . An Akron native, Jacob is a current MBA student at the University of Oregon's Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. You can follow him on Twitter @WFNYJacob or e-mail him at udjrosen(at)gmail(dot)com.

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